


Falling Stars

by Nary



Category: Diablotin
Genre: Apocalypse, Backstory, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 10:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3647544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He did not grasp their terrible plan until it was too late, until his world and everyone he knew was burning, and the stars were falling from the sky.  He screamed to his god, but it was silent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Measured_Words](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/gifts).



> For the prompt "Crying the tears he lost as a child (Send Angels - Plumb)"

Sirris said goodbye to his mother when he was ten years old. Going to serve in the High Temple was a great honour, and he knew she was proud of him and that he ought to be brave. But he was still very young, and he couldn't help sniffling a little once he was led away.

"No tears, child," said the old priest, frowning with hollow, wrinkled cheeks. "You belong to the Great Serpent now. You will learn and see wondrous things, beyond the ken of the common folk. Let that be your comfort."

It was a cold comfort at first. Sirris learned not to cry in front of the older priests, who would make him sit in meditation from sunset to sunrise, or in front of the other acolytes, who mocked him and called him a baby lamb, bleating for its mother. After a while, his tears disappeared like dew on a warm morning, and even though he was alone in his heart, it no longer mattered. 

He was thirteen when he was chosen as the Guardian. He had half-expected it - he had felt the Gate calling to him, heard it whisper his name. After that, he was never alone, and he walked in the paths of the stars.

***

He should have remained pure. He had many chances to tell himself that later, during his punishment. 

There was a girl - one whose name he can no longer remember, as he has lost so many other names. His will wavered as he sought her company, and the warnings of the Gate felt unimportant when compared with her smile. He was almost at the age where his vision became clouded and his connection would fade away naturally - he wondered later if the priests knew that. He did not grasp their terrible plan until it was too late, until his world and everyone he knew was burning, and the stars were falling from the sky. He screamed to his god, but it was silent. Around him the air shimmered with unbearable heat, and the tears evaporated from his eyes before they could fall. He was the only person left alive, and he could not even cry.

"You still live," said the Voice of Vengeance.

"Then kill me." It no longer mattered. There was nothing more to fear. Even the final unmaking would be a blessing now.

"I cannot give you that mercy - you are Chosen, and your task is not yet finished."

He kept his face and hands pressed to the molten ground, but it did not burn him. "I failed at my task."

"Yes." The land where the temple had stood flowed around him, spiraling down like a whirlwind, and out of its center came a chain that caught his neck and bound him. "But if you are strong enough, you will have the chance to redeem yourself. One day, you will be free."

He stumbled, no longer able to stand, only to crawl. "Free from these chains?"

"Free to choose."

***

"What did he mean?" Silvia asked. She lay beside him, and the room was dark, only lit by a single streetlamp from outside.

"I've often wondered," Sirris told her. "At first I thought it meant I could choose to die - to be released utterly from suffering - or to live, and continue to try and be redeemed. But later, I came to think it was more complicated than that. I was in a position where I could choose how to shape this church - what to say, how to teach them, deciding what lessons they ought to learn. I could lead it towards cruelty, or peace. Or I could have chosen to say nothing, to let the knowledge vanish with me."

"It seems like a terrible risk," she said thoughtfully, resting her head against his shoulder. "To put that choice in your hands... You could have come out of that pit full of rage, or warped and broken by what you'd been through."

"Maybe I did." He turned, allowing her to see the tears in his eyes. "But Vengeance wasn't the only spirit present with me in that dark desolation. It was Mercy who filled the pool with her weeping. And that was what set me free, in the end."

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [naryrising](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/naryrising) if you want to ask questions, make requests, or chat!


End file.
